This is page numbers 4919 - 4952 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was youth.

Topics

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister of ENR. It's going to much easier once you're Minister of ENR/Lands. All right, Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

I want to ask the Minister how much did it cost to send in those helicopters to Lutselk'e and a SWAT team? Thank you.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, they're officers, not a SWAT team. They were reacting to a tip and they went in there and they executed a warrant. This Member seems to want to make it sound illegal what the staff were doing. The staff did their job. As for the cost, the operational cost of how long it was, they waited an hour and 20 minutes before they even went into the camp. So we had to actually pay for that time as well. So if the Member wants to know, it's three hours. So whatever the operation of the helicopter time is, that's what it was. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

Yes, I want to know the cost of sending, you know, helicopters. And -- okay, well SWAT team, ENR, they're like a SWAT team because, you know, they went in there. You watch it on the social media, you know, like harassing the elders and the young people in that -- a woman and child. So they are -- for me, I view them as a SWAT team. So thank you.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I am going to have to disagree with the Member. She doesn't -- her definition of what is SWAT team is and what my definition of my officers that work for the Department of ENR do is totally different. So as I said, it was approximately three hours. So whatever the helicopter time was is what it was. But these are part of the jobs that we need to do. So as for the amount, it was three hours of what the cost is.

I just need to really stress with this mobile zone, she should reach out to her leadership and talk to the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resource Board, because they are the ones that work with us to develop this mobile zone. So if the Member doesn't want that mobile zone, she should really reach out to her leadership because I can tell you my conversations with her leadership and the Wek'eezhii Resource Board, they're very much about protecting the caribou in this. And as I said before, I've had a relationship with -- reached out to the chief from Lutselk'e, and we're working on something that where I will go in and meet with chief and council and elders to discuss this very topic. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi

No, well I said SWAT team because it was retraumatizing for them in describing their experience with residential school and all that, and it was -- it was not a pleasant thing to see. So that's why I referred to them as a SWAT team. So that's just more of a comment. Thank you.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I appreciate everybody has their own definition. But let's get it clear. It wasn't a SWAT team. There was two officers that came in, met with the people that were in the community. They came up. They waited an hour and 20 minutes before they even went and did their job. They worked with the people that were there. So as I said before, I am having a meeting with the chief and council and some elders in the community, and we are having this very discussion about this. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are again for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

I questioned the Minister during this sitting in regards to bursaries for students who want to partake in the Aurora College nursing program, and I was happy to learn and to hear that Indigenous students and northern students are both open to access bursary programs for the Aurora College nursing program. So I'm wondering, though, if the Minister will allow southern students to access northern nursing bursaries to fill the remaining spots in the Aurora College nursing program to ensure that the Aurora College nursing program is fully subscribed every year. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, at this point, this is a brand new program, the bursaries actually are not going to be available to apply for until the winter of 2023, and at that point it will be possible to apply for them retroactively. So we don't have any information on the uptake to say whether it's possible to expand it to other populations. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there are 30 spots every year available at the Aurora College nursing program. Every year there are Indigenous students who partake in it, and there are northern students who partake in it. Right now there are also people who are NWT residents who are not considered an Indigenous student or a northern student. They're a southern student because they have not lived more than half their life in the Northwest Territories. If there are spots still remaining in the nursing program, as in we have not met our max of 30 students, I'm wondering if Health and Social Services will take the necessary steps to expand their bursary program to ensure that every year we have a fully subscribed nursing program at Aurora College? Thank you.

Question 1271-19(2): Nursing Bursaries
Oral Questions

October 31st, 2022

Page 4938

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it's worth noting that this program is not only for registered nurses; it's also for people who are in allied professions including midwifery and physicians and so on. I find it impossible to make a commitment about extending the program without it ever having been introduced. But I do invite the Member to ask me about this again once it has been introduced. Thank you.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, in a perfect world we would have 30 Indigenous students in the nursing program, or 30 Indigenous and northern students in the nursing program at Aurora College. So the budget ideally would allow us to max out the 30. So the budget really, in theory, is already there. So all I'm asking for is that we ensure that the Aurora College nursing program bursaries are fully subscribed every year to ensure that we have the biggest capacity of nurses, because as soon as we can say hey, we'll educate you in exchange for service, we have a guaranteed eight years of residency of these students. And if someone stays here for eight years, I find most often they'll stay here for a decade, or maybe two or three. That's fabulous. They meet somebody. They have families. They have friends. They make the North their home. So I'm wondering if the Minister will commit to please expanding the bursary program to students who are not northern or Indigenous students to fully subscribe the program? Thank you.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the Member's passion for this. I am not going to change my answer. This program hasn't even launched, and the criteria -- the Member's asking for the criteria to be changed. We need to launch the program. And I invite her to come back to me with questions once it has been launched during the winter term. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Our time for oral questions has expired. Written questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

The Government of the Northwest Territories provides services to treat underlying medical conditions that cause infertility.

  1. What medical conditions are approved?
  2. I have constituents who have underlying medical conditions requiring treatment before fertility treatment is available, and it is not supported by the GNWT. So Who decides what conditions are recognized and which ones are not?
  3. If a fertility specialist identifies a condition that needs to be addressed before in vitro fertilization treatment is possible, why does a Northwest Territories resident need a referral from a Northwest Territories physician? This is administratively burdensome and adds significant time to a process where timing very much matters. Will the Minister create a directive to medical travel to accept referrals from specialists outside of the territory rather than the current system that duplicates this process? And,
  4. Given the question of equity of healthcare for birth givers, why are vasectomies and vasectomy reversals covered whereas fertility treatments for birth givers are not? Who decides what is medically necessary and what is not?

Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Written questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Ronald Bonnetrouge

Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Housing Northwest Territories:

  1. Can the Minister explain the reason for offloading public housing units onto First Nations organizations?
  2. As many are not high market communities, has the Minister explained the financial obligations and problems associated with being a landlord of public housing?
  3. Treaty 11 of 1921 was to ensure free housing for First Nations peoples and hence First Nations housing was devolved to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation (now Housing Northwest Territories). Can the Minister provide an update on progress on this obligation? And,
  4. The federal government's Rapid Housing Initiative states only 49 units for the Northwest Territories. As these are 100 percent dollars, why is there such low application numbers for the Northwest Territories?

Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Report of standing and special committees. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for ITI.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish to table the following document: Northwest Territories Oil and Gas Annual Report 2021. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Tabling of documents. Minister of Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Department of Justice Corrections Service Annual Report 2021-2022. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Tabling of documents. Minister of Lands.